T-Mobile to offer unlimited international data and texting at no extra cost

Today, profanity-prone T-Mobile CEO John Legere (shown above) unveiled a new plan to offer unlimited data and texting coverage across 115 countries at no extra charge. The plan will also give customers a flat charge of only 20 cents per minute for voice calls in those same countries.

Beginning on November 1, the plan will be open to all T-Mobile Simple Choice customers with no need to sign up or pay any additional monthly fee. The only data-cap limit on usage will be that, in any three-month period, more than half of the data usage must be in the U.S., and any single international trip should be less than six weeks.

Legere said that the downloading "experience will vary" depending on what country you are in, although users will have the ability to purchase 4G-like speeds through three speed-boost plans. A one-day plan will offer 100MB for $15; a one-week plan will offer 200MB for $25; and a two-week plan will offer 500MB for $50.

The company also introduced a Stateside International Talk & Text plan that will be available for $10 a month. The new plan will give users access to unlimited texts to any included countries as well as unlimited calls to landlines and mobile-to-mobile fees of 10 cents to 20 cents per minute.

The new plan is a welcome step-up for T-Mobile customers, as the company's previous data-roaming plans were truly craptacular. Under the company's old plan, customers would be charged $10 per megabyte when in Canada and $15 per megabyte in all other countries. By comparison, Verizon customers traveling abroad can purchase 100MB for $25, while jet setters on AT&T's network can secure 120MB for $30.

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